A (and the only) Noor Jehan – Nazir starrer, a blockbuster, a great musical with an interesting storyline, and fantastic cast of acting and singing – that’s what Village Girl was. Music by the great Shyam Sundar and direction by M Amarnath. Cast included Nazir, Noor Jehan – leading pair, Durga Khote – hero’s mother, Rama Shukul – villain, with Shanta Patel, Geeta Nizami, Rajkumari Shukla(not the great playback singer, this is an actress usually playing mother roles), Jagdish Sethi, Anant Marathe, Bikram Kapoor playing side roles. I really treasure all the songs. The film launched Madam Noor Jehan to great heights. It also has a great Qawwali (scroll below to it for a surprise!)

Among vintage film singers, I don’t think Madam Kalyanibai is so well known as many others, but her voice is a very weighty and sweet one and one of the most powerful voices in Hindi films. Probably her most famous song was “Aahein Na Bhari” with Zohrabai Ambalewali and Noor Jehan in Zeenat (1945), the first female and first famous Qawwali with many debuters.

Her most famous works are from Noor Jehan starring blockbuster Zeenat (1945), under music directors Hafiz Ali Khan and Meer Sahab. In Zeenat she sang with some top female singers of the 40s. Enjoy all these fabulous voices!

1. Aahein Na Bhari with Zohrabai Ambalewali and Noor Jehan. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kalyanibai is one of the women here!